Billionaire Louis Bacon has awarded $203 million in defamation lawsuit against Bahamas neighbor Peter Nygard
Disgraced Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard must pay $203 million to billionaire hedge fund manager Louis Bacon after a bitter, year-long defamation case that was finalized in New York.
Nygard, 81, was ordered to pay the record amount after “an all-out attempt… to destroy Bacon,” including false claims he was a KKK member guilty of insider trading, a ruling said .
He spent a whopping $15 million spreading the highly damaging claims about Bacon “out of hatred, ill will, spite and malice,” wrote Layn Phillips, the Supreme Court’s appointed special adjudicator on the case.
Nygard is currently being held in a Canadian prison on charges including trafficking underage girls for sex. He faces extradition to the United States over the alleged decades-long scheme, which he denies.
His false claims about Bacon include that he “was a member of the Ku Klux Klan and believed in white supremacy.” He also alleged that Bacon engaged in insider trading and was involved in the death of an employee on his Bahamas property.
Peter Nygard (right) must pay billionaire hedge fund manager Louis Bacon (left) $203 million after a bitter New York defamation battle
The pair own adjoining properties in the Bahamas and their feud was reportedly sparked by a dispute over a shared driveway
The defamation ruling, which was issued on Thursday and viewed by DailyMail.com, added: ‘Any one of these statements would have been a significant attack on his character; the combination of all four portrayed him as an evildoer of the highest order.
“The effects were compounded by the nearly decade-long duration of the smears and the global and multi-media dissemination they received – including at one point a gathering in the Bahamas where participants wore t-shirts and held signs proclaiming [Bacon’s] alleged racism.’
The payout, a record for a libel case in New York State, follows a feud between Nygard and Bacon that has lasted more than a decade.
The pair own adjoining properties on the Bahamas’ paradise island of New Providence — and their feud reportedly started over a shared driveway.
They also clashed over loud parties Nygard had hosted on his property in Lyford Cay, an exclusive gated private community. A conservation group that Bacon co-founded, Save The Bays, also successfully opposed plans by Nygard to develop his property.
Nygard has since faced claims that he ordered hitmen to kill Bacon and also orchestrated a campaign of intimidation, including plotting an incendiary attack on a pastor associated with Bacon.
In his ruling, Phillips said that “the overwhelming nature of the evidence” against Nygard in the libel case was “truly astounding.”
But Bacon may not receive anything close to the $203 million he was awarded because Nygard’s companies are out of business. He was arrested in December 2020 and is also charged with extortion.
Bacon was awarded the damages after Nygard was found to have caused “loss of prestige and reputation, personal humiliation, mental anguish and the loss of the community and use and enjoyment of his properties in the Bahamas.”
Louis Bacon (L) and Gabrielle Bacon at the 2013 National Audubon Society Gala Dinner on January 17, 2013 in New York
Nygard, pictured at a Los Angeles gala in 2014, is currently being held in a Canadian prison on charges including trafficking underage girls for sex. He faces extradition to the United States over the alleged decades-long scheme, which he denies
Nygard is known for his ostentatious display of wealth, while Bacon keeps a low profile. Pictured: Nygard’s Maya-themed home in the Bahamas
Bacon, who is worth $1.6 billion according to Forbes, made his fortune as a hedge fund manager and is the founder of Moore Capital Management.
Unlike Nygard, who was known for his ostentatious display of wealth, Bacon keeps a low profile and has spent part of his fortune on conservation.
The ruling describes how Bacon worried “every time he met someone” whether they knew about the bogus claims.
That was evident from the evidence [Bacon] was humiliated by the false accusations; that his children faced unpleasant questions at school and were afraid to sleep in their beds; and that [Bacon] cut back on normal activities over the years that gave him pleasure, such as attending charity events and visiting his home in the Bahamas, or he would be forced to deal with the lingering allegations.”
The compensation was broken down as $50 million in compensatory damages, $10.3 million in mitigating damages, $100 million in punitive damages, and $43.4 million to cover Bacon’s attorneys’ fees.